Latest / The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey / A nonconference surprise, plus Boston University's Tara Watchorn joins the show

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A nonconference surprise, plus Boston University's Tara Watchorn joins the show · The PodKaz: USCHO Women's Hockey

0:03
Speaker 1: Usc CHO dot com. Hi everyone, welcome back to the podcast.
0:12
Speaker 1: My name is Todd Malusky. I am here with the
0:14
Speaker 1: Cole Hasey. We are with us c h O dot
0:17
Speaker 1: com and bringing you women's hockey coverage every week here
0:22
Speaker 1: on the podcast as well as written on usa HO
0:25
Speaker 1: dot com. Nicole does a great job and covering all
0:28
Speaker 1: of that, and so happy to have this opportunity to
0:33
Speaker 1: get into everything that's going on, and maybe we'll be
0:36
Speaker 1: going on soon in women's hockey, and soon in our show.
0:40
Speaker 1: We'll be here from Tara Watchhorn, the head coach at
0:43
Speaker 1: Boston University, about the Terriers, about Hockey East, about some
0:46
Speaker 1: exciting new things happening for their program. But Nicole, let's
0:50
Speaker 1: let's take a look back first at last weekend and
0:54
Speaker 1: one real surprising result that came out was RIT beating
0:59
Speaker 1: Cole eight Colgate rank number seven at the time UH
1:02
Speaker 1: four two victory at home for Rit. Uh That one
1:06
Speaker 1: did did surprise? I think both of us correct.
1:10
Speaker 2: Yeah, we were sitting next to each other in the
1:12
Speaker 2: press box and I'm like, wait, when did that happen?
1:15
Speaker 2: Neither team was updating their social media very much during it,
1:18
Speaker 2: and so all of a sudden I had seen a
1:20
Speaker 2: couple you know, videos of Colgate goals and then it
1:23
Speaker 2: was also Colgate lost four too, and I was like,
1:26
Speaker 2: I missed something, like at first I thought maybe the
1:29
Speaker 2: graphic was wrong, that they had like accidentally transposed the numbers,
1:32
Speaker 2: which has happened to Sid's right, So, you know, no
1:36
Speaker 2: offense to Colgate, but yeah, definitely a surprising outcome. And yeah,
1:41
Speaker 2: I just, uh, you know, it's I think Colgate struggled
1:44
Speaker 2: a little bit to kind of figure out their identity
1:46
Speaker 2: this year. Daniel Seirdacne was sort of the backbone of
1:49
Speaker 2: that team for ages and now the sort of standout
1:52
Speaker 2: players on this squad are are younger, and I think, yeah,
1:55
Speaker 2: they just they ran into There were a ton of penalties.
1:58
Speaker 2: I mean there were They had two majors hand a
2:00
Speaker 2: game misconduct, so that's part of it, but they also
2:04
Speaker 2: had I think five or six other penalties, and then
2:07
Speaker 2: Rit also had a bunch of penalties. So there was
2:09
Speaker 2: no flow to this game. There's definitely that. But at
2:12
Speaker 2: the same time, you know, Rit scored three third period
2:15
Speaker 2: goals and the majors and the game mess conduct were
2:18
Speaker 2: not in the third period, So I don't know if
2:21
Speaker 2: if the messed up flow got into Colgate's head. I
2:24
Speaker 2: haven't had a chance. I want to go back and
2:26
Speaker 2: watch this third period, but I haven't been able to yet.
2:29
Speaker 2: But yeah, I definitely good on Rit. You know, I
2:33
Speaker 2: really just we you know, it's cliche and coach coaches
2:38
Speaker 2: have been saying it, and but yeah, I mean manner,
2:40
Speaker 2: the field's kind of wide open, and does every period,
2:43
Speaker 2: every shift really matter? This is you know something that
2:47
Speaker 2: this this move Colgate on the poles into some extent
2:50
Speaker 2: poles don't matter. And but also like that puts them
2:53
Speaker 2: on the edge of what would be you know, the
2:55
Speaker 2: NCAA field, and so stuff like this is way happening
2:59
Speaker 2: in October, but have implications come February, so February March,
3:03
Speaker 2: and so yeah, I just good for Rit for hold
3:06
Speaker 2: it together, good for them for you know, not being
3:09
Speaker 2: flustered by the interrupted flow. And yeah, I don't know,
3:14
Speaker 2: like I said, I wish it's the beginning of the
3:16
Speaker 2: week and I just haven't had a chance to watch
3:18
Speaker 2: it yet, but time will tell. And I think, you know,
3:21
Speaker 2: Colgate's just in a position where they need to bunker
3:23
Speaker 2: down a little bit. And I think they've you know,
3:26
Speaker 2: they've had it. They've worked really well for the past
3:29
Speaker 2: few years, you know, like not that they've had it easy,
3:31
Speaker 2: but they've they've it's everything has been smooth and worked in,
3:35
Speaker 2: you know, sort of the same way, and they've been
3:37
Speaker 2: able to build on what they were doing. And so
3:39
Speaker 2: I definitely think this is a bump in the road
3:41
Speaker 2: and they have to learn how to deal with that
3:43
Speaker 2: and how they're gonna come back from that.
3:45
Speaker 1: Yeah, that game was one one going to the third period,
3:48
Speaker 1: and and almost midway into the third period said that
3:51
Speaker 1: way rit took the lead, but Colgates got a powerplay
3:54
Speaker 1: goal not long after to tie to too uh and
3:58
Speaker 1: then rt jump then to a lead three to two
4:01
Speaker 1: bron when Kangs are with a goal five twenty two left,
4:04
Speaker 1: and that's when the penalty trouble may have caught up
4:08
Speaker 1: to Coldgate because they took a five and a game
4:11
Speaker 1: for hitting. Oh no, sorry, that was second period. Never mind,
4:14
Speaker 1: it did get calmed down then, I guess so. But
4:21
Speaker 1: RTI added an empty net goal in the third late
4:25
Speaker 1: to take that four to two win. You'd mentioned, you
4:29
Speaker 1: know that every game means something in the pair wise
4:33
Speaker 1: at the end of the season, so they may not
4:36
Speaker 1: remember this game or this they have probably will have
4:40
Speaker 1: moved far on from this game by the time we're
4:43
Speaker 1: talking about the numbers in February, but that might still
4:48
Speaker 1: be lingering in why they are where they are. That's
4:52
Speaker 1: what one game can do that much to you when
4:56
Speaker 1: you're talking about the difference between like a you know,
4:59
Speaker 1: for instance, hosting or not hosting in the first round
5:03
Speaker 1: of the NCAA tournament. So a lot of a lot
5:06
Speaker 1: to be played before then before we're really talking about that.
5:09
Speaker 1: But yeah, those are the little things that matter when
5:11
Speaker 1: you when you start talking about that.
5:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I you know, I feel bad maybe harping on it,
5:17
Speaker 2: and I feel like, you know, again, like you said,
5:18
Speaker 2: with maybe this won't matter when it comes to it,
5:20
Speaker 2: but you know, we saw a team like Quinnipiac, you know,
5:23
Speaker 2: feel like they missed out on the postseason last year
5:25
Speaker 2: by like basically a goal, So that was, you know,
5:28
Speaker 2: the difference maker, and so yeah, I think it's, yeah,
5:32
Speaker 2: just one of those things that you kind of like
5:33
Speaker 2: put that little check mark like, oh, I might come
5:36
Speaker 2: back to this, this might be important. So yeah, but again,
5:40
Speaker 2: good on the Tigers. You know, they they have long
5:42
Speaker 2: had amazing goaltending and I think that was a big,
5:45
Speaker 2: big part of that part of this win, and you know,
5:48
Speaker 2: just something they can build on and really excited they
5:50
Speaker 2: had lost you know, five one the day before, Like
5:52
Speaker 2: what a massive response from them.
5:55
Speaker 1: No, a couple of big series in the wh A
5:58
Speaker 1: last weekend, you know in Columbus, Ohio State got five
6:03
Speaker 1: or six points against Minnesota with a win on Friday
6:08
Speaker 1: and then a shootout win on Saturday after a one
6:11
Speaker 1: to one tie. The Friday game was four to three.
6:14
Speaker 1: So that was a really tightly contested series both of
6:18
Speaker 1: those games, and I don't know that we we saw
6:24
Speaker 1: a true you know, Ohio State has headed shoulders better
6:27
Speaker 1: than Minnesota is it's kind of like they're they're in
6:30
Speaker 1: the same boat. They're in the same you know, this
6:33
Speaker 1: is going to be a Minnesota, ohiose date Wisconsin kind
6:36
Speaker 1: of race and for for the top of the w
6:40
Speaker 1: c h A uh kind of as as everyone expected.
6:43
Speaker 1: I guess, yeah.
6:45
Speaker 2: I thought it was interesting. You know, I thought watching
6:47
Speaker 2: that game, Minnesota just was really sloppy on defense, and
6:51
Speaker 2: you know, Ohio State's goal on Saturday the was a
6:54
Speaker 2: direct result of Minnesota is just not clearing the puck
6:57
Speaker 2: and so that is something that you know, we've kind
7:00
Speaker 2: of talked about their defense a little bit earlier in
7:02
Speaker 2: the season and not the sort of stuff that they
7:04
Speaker 2: just really have to clean up. And I think, you know,
7:06
Speaker 2: if they I mean, a team like Ohio State's not
7:10
Speaker 2: gonna let something like that go, right, and so Minnesota's
7:12
Speaker 2: going to keep coming up against opportunities like that. And
7:15
Speaker 2: so that was one of the places where I thought,
7:16
Speaker 2: you know, this is a gap at the moment, This
7:18
Speaker 2: is like where Ohio State might be a little better.
7:20
Speaker 2: But both goaltenders were all of the goaltenders because I
7:24
Speaker 2: think Minnesota played two of their their goalies just really
7:28
Speaker 2: were outstanding. I thought, you know, they got Pepper, they
7:30
Speaker 2: were they did amazing. There was a shootout. I just
7:33
Speaker 2: goalies were a huge part of these games, and that's
7:37
Speaker 2: maybe not necessarily been the case when you talk about
7:40
Speaker 2: some of those high end teams that like usually they're
7:42
Speaker 2: a little more dominant and the goalies aren't the ones.
7:45
Speaker 2: You know, there's just so much good offense you're gonna
7:47
Speaker 2: give up some goals and things like that. But you know,
7:49
Speaker 2: we saw some goal line clearances and I just I
7:51
Speaker 2: was impressed the goaltending isn't necessarily what stands out with
7:54
Speaker 2: seems like that play each other, but they did last
7:56
Speaker 2: weekend and.
7:58
Speaker 1: Number one Wisconsin got too wins against number three Minnesota
8:01
Speaker 1: Duluth at home. That's you know, six and oh start
8:06
Speaker 1: for the Badgers now and they One of the things
8:08
Speaker 1: that stood out for me was that we'd seen Wisconsin
8:12
Speaker 1: put up the offense in the first four games against
8:14
Speaker 1: Lyndon Wood and against Boston College two each, but they
8:18
Speaker 1: were able to score twelve goals in two games against
8:20
Speaker 1: the luth which was I mean, which is you know,
8:23
Speaker 1: usually a pretty solid defensive team with a really good goaltending.
8:29
Speaker 1: So I think that shows that, yeah, Wisconsin can do
8:33
Speaker 1: this pretty much against anyone. We'll see a little bit
8:35
Speaker 1: more of it, and we'll talk a little bit more
8:37
Speaker 1: about this later on the show about they have to
8:40
Speaker 1: go to Minnesota now this week, so I have to
8:43
Speaker 1: see how that goes again and now going on the road.
8:45
Speaker 1: But I think that was a pretty important and impressive
8:50
Speaker 1: statement by the Badgers.
8:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And I also, to be fair, feel like
8:55
Speaker 2: the score doesn't necessarily show how well UMD played as well.
8:59
Speaker 2: And I think it's probably of a note too that like
9:01
Speaker 2: you and he got three goals in a in a
9:04
Speaker 2: regular and maybe in a different season that wouldn't have
9:07
Speaker 2: been such a like it would have been a much
9:09
Speaker 2: closer game, right, Like, I don't think Wisconsin's going to
9:12
Speaker 2: give up you know, multiple goals like that to very
9:14
Speaker 2: many teams this season. So yeah, it the Badgers are
9:21
Speaker 2: just they are what they are, right you just it's
9:23
Speaker 2: kind of relentless. And I think to a huge thing
9:26
Speaker 2: and a sort of a pinon to put in to
9:29
Speaker 2: look back at this is that Wisconsin really adjusted the
9:31
Speaker 2: way that they played in the way that they approached
9:34
Speaker 2: that game, which quite frankly, Wisconsin's not new known for
9:36
Speaker 2: their their massive shifts and philosophy, right, like, they would
9:39
Speaker 2: do what they do well and they just it works,
9:41
Speaker 2: right And you and I talked about like the Badgers
9:44
Speaker 2: usually just hold possession and grind teams down and keep
9:47
Speaker 2: your defenders on for a long shift and then take advantage.
9:50
Speaker 2: In this this series, we really saw them using sort
9:53
Speaker 2: of a much more of a rush. And because Minnesota
9:57
Speaker 2: Duluth is so good in front of the net and
9:58
Speaker 2: so good at getting in lanes, they didn't do that
10:02
Speaker 2: right like Wisconsin was like okay, so We're not gonna
10:05
Speaker 2: let them do that to us. We're not gonna stop
10:06
Speaker 2: and get set up. And that adjustment I think was massive.
10:09
Speaker 2: So now teams know Wisconsin might do that, how does
10:14
Speaker 2: Minnesota prepare for them now differently? How does Ohio State
10:17
Speaker 2: now prepare for them differently? And can you prepare for
10:21
Speaker 2: them on a rush or or and prepare for them
10:24
Speaker 2: to settle in and do their possession thing? Like what
10:26
Speaker 2: are you giving up hedging your bets on what you're
10:28
Speaker 2: gonna see from them? So I think that just will
10:31
Speaker 2: be really interesting to watch. I thought too, it was
10:33
Speaker 2: funny because I think I looked at you and said
10:35
Speaker 2: that their power play is not fair, right, Like their
10:37
Speaker 2: power valley is a bunch of US national team numbers.
10:39
Speaker 2: It's a KK Harvey Leyla Edwards, Kirsten Simms, Casey O'Brien,
10:45
Speaker 2: and Lacy Eden. Like that's a that's a you know,
10:48
Speaker 2: several Olympic medals, World Championship medals, the you know, last
10:51
Speaker 2: to Bob Allen, USA Hockey Players of the Year, that
10:54
Speaker 2: big said Wisconsin wasn't that great on the power plan.
10:56
Speaker 2: And I think that is illustrative of what we're saying,
11:00
Speaker 2: is that like when you settle in and just move
11:02
Speaker 2: the puck around your U M D is really tough
11:04
Speaker 2: to get through. So that was less about power play
11:08
Speaker 2: not being very good and more just really like showed
11:11
Speaker 2: to me, like why that shift in philosophy in that
11:14
Speaker 2: game was so in those games was so important for
11:16
Speaker 2: what Wisconsin was trying to accomplish. So I think that
11:19
Speaker 2: power play will will be fine. But to see you
11:23
Speaker 2: just look out there and you're like, wow, that's that's
11:24
Speaker 2: not fair watching those five move the puck together.
11:28
Speaker 1: Right, A lot of blocks on that power play. Over
11:31
Speaker 1: the weekend, Loot did a good job of of, you know,
11:34
Speaker 1: taking away the middle that they the wiscons was able
11:38
Speaker 1: to get some passes through and and and those did
11:41
Speaker 1: work a couple of times. But yeah, that's that's maybe
11:45
Speaker 1: the way you have to to let them have those
11:49
Speaker 1: and and and try and and you know, kill off
11:53
Speaker 1: as much as you can out of it and let
11:56
Speaker 1: them get some chances because they're going to. But another
12:01
Speaker 1: interesting set of results over the weekend I mentioned we're
12:06
Speaker 1: talking to tyre Watchhorn from bu here later on the show,
12:09
Speaker 1: The Chair has got a four nothing victory over Northeastern
12:12
Speaker 1: at home. A day after losing four nothing to the
12:15
Speaker 1: Northeastern at Northeastern. That was I think we're seeing that
12:22
Speaker 1: that's part of the up for grabs nature of Hockey East.
12:25
Speaker 1: That's part of you know, there's a BU team here
12:29
Speaker 1: that is looking to make some steps quickly and may
12:34
Speaker 1: have an opportunity to do that this season. That so
12:39
Speaker 1: that result on on Saturday caught my eye. For for
12:43
Speaker 1: BEU to come back after being shut out to then
12:46
Speaker 1: throw a shut out the next day against the same
12:49
Speaker 1: team was an important response.
12:53
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely. I think to hockey was also interesting in that,
12:57
Speaker 2: like you kind of had a lot of like swapped
12:59
Speaker 2: so probably evidence in Maine each one in game three two,
13:02
Speaker 2: Uh Marri mc and Vermont I think had similar results
13:06
Speaker 2: just the the close nature of that and the toss
13:08
Speaker 2: up that's going to happen every weekend. Uh Marrion mack
13:12
Speaker 2: won both three two, But I just it was it
13:14
Speaker 2: really stood out to me that they were like similar
13:16
Speaker 2: scores on both days and so at least those are
13:19
Speaker 2: close games that the four the two different four h
13:21
Speaker 2: victories is such an anomaly and uh yeah, it was
13:25
Speaker 2: just really interesting fun to to sort of see those
13:28
Speaker 2: in breakdown what worked in one and one what worked
13:31
Speaker 2: and what didn't work right, the each team won in
13:33
Speaker 2: their home arena. That was a home and home series,
13:35
Speaker 2: which is probably part of it. But again, I think
13:38
Speaker 2: that response from MEU is so huge, much like Irit
13:42
Speaker 2: coming back in that third period, right, I just think
13:44
Speaker 2: the response being able to look at, you know, we
13:48
Speaker 2: that did not go how we wanted yesterday, like we
13:50
Speaker 2: we got our butts kicked, what are we gonna do
13:52
Speaker 2: about it today? I just that kind of grit and
13:55
Speaker 2: that kind of response is what's going to carry teams
13:57
Speaker 2: at the end of a very long season. So I
13:59
Speaker 2: think that's a huge, just a huge show of like
14:02
Speaker 2: sort of what the King's capable of in their character
14:05
Speaker 2: and what's going to happen when they're you know, deep
14:07
Speaker 2: in their hockey, does their tournament sort of all at once? Right,
14:10
Speaker 2: So there's a Those are just the sort of things
14:13
Speaker 2: that I think we'll make a difference when it comes
14:15
Speaker 2: to that.
14:16
Speaker 1: And then a non conference game Tuesday night, Providence came
14:19
Speaker 1: back from a too nothing deficit to win three to
14:21
Speaker 1: two against Quinnipiac at home, and it overcame a fairly
14:29
Speaker 1: large shots disparity. Quinnipac outshot the Friars thirty six to nineteen.
14:34
Speaker 1: But that's a a It seems like a big stab
14:42
Speaker 1: for Providence to fall behind nothing and then just shake
14:46
Speaker 1: it off and you know, Okay, that's done. How do
14:51
Speaker 1: we move forward? While we move forward by scoring the
14:53
Speaker 1: next three goals and get the win, big step for them.
14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah. Absolutely, That's another sort of young squad that had
14:59
Speaker 2: a couple of you know, sort of longtime leaders that
15:01
Speaker 2: have graduated in the last two years as well. And
15:03
Speaker 2: so I think again, just finding their identity and finding
15:07
Speaker 2: their their space and stepping having a player step into
15:11
Speaker 2: larger roles, I think, uh yeah. That definitely raised my
15:15
Speaker 2: eyebrows and I'm like, hmmm, We'll be keeping an eye
15:17
Speaker 2: on that. I mean, we've been telling you. I feel
15:19
Speaker 2: like every week we could talk about an interesting team
15:21
Speaker 2: in Hockey East and you know, Gopher, what is the
15:23
Speaker 2: third ahead of them? Like a go for ten weeks
15:25
Speaker 2: and not duplicate. I just there's a It's I think
15:30
Speaker 2: it's fun, right because, like we talked about when we
15:32
Speaker 2: did our previews, in like the w C h A
15:34
Speaker 2: and the ECAC, you sort of have your groupings of
15:37
Speaker 2: teams and so a team that's not one of say
15:39
Speaker 2: the top four in their conference. While they could be
15:42
Speaker 2: having a good season, there's limited space for them to
15:45
Speaker 2: move around. And that's just not the case in Hockey East.
15:47
Speaker 2: It just feels so wide open. And you'll see we
15:51
Speaker 2: talk to Terry a little bit about sort of the
15:53
Speaker 2: opportunities that that gives your team and knowing that sort
15:56
Speaker 2: of every every weekend, every one of those games, you
16:00
Speaker 2: have to be consistent. You can't, you know, drop a
16:03
Speaker 2: game to a team that you shouldn't or that that
16:05
Speaker 2: you know have about an off day if if you're
16:08
Speaker 2: consistent like this conference is available.
16:11
Speaker 1: So speaking of Hockey East, stay with us here on
16:14
Speaker 1: the podcast. When we come back, Tara Wahorn, the hockey
16:17
Speaker 1: the head coach at Boston University, will tell us about
16:21
Speaker 1: what it's like the coach in Hockey East and what
16:23
Speaker 1: kind of opportunities there are there for BU So stay
16:26
Speaker 1: with us. Welcome back to the podcast. I'm Todd Maleuski
16:35
Speaker 1: here with Nicole Hasey and our special guest this week
16:38
Speaker 1: is the head coach at Boston University in her second
16:40
Speaker 1: season as head coach anyway, a former Terriers player, Tara Wahorn,
16:46
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us.
16:48
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me.
16:49
Speaker 1: I want to start maybe you can help us get
16:53
Speaker 1: a sense of what Hockey East is like and how
16:58
Speaker 1: BU fits into it this season. Do you like that
17:00
Speaker 1: there is, you know, maybe an opportunity for for your
17:04
Speaker 1: team to to take a step this season with with
17:08
Speaker 1: what you've seen around the league and what you what
17:10
Speaker 1: you see as being potential for what your team can do.
17:14
Speaker 4: For sure, I think every year, I mean you've seen
17:16
Speaker 4: with the last couple of years, it's been competitive in
17:19
Speaker 4: Hockey East, especially last season. I think from everything we've seen,
17:23
Speaker 4: I think we're gonna see more of that, and we're
17:25
Speaker 4: just kind of we're all coming out of our out
17:26
Speaker 4: of conference games and starting our you know, in conference matchups.
17:30
Speaker 4: So I think there's still obviously gonna a lot to
17:32
Speaker 4: be determined based on how teams progress and buy in,
17:36
Speaker 4: and but I do I think it's going to be
17:38
Speaker 4: another competitive year that anyone can really take it. You know,
17:41
Speaker 4: goaltending seem to be king last year in a lot
17:43
Speaker 4: of ways, and obviously you kN of Northeastern have had
17:46
Speaker 4: great programs. But it will be interesting to see for sure.
17:50
Speaker 4: But in terms of our own path, I just constantly
17:53
Speaker 4: I feel like we're getting better and we should be
17:55
Speaker 4: able to put up a fight in most games, which
17:57
Speaker 4: will be good.
17:58
Speaker 2: Yeah, God is actually the one that pointed this out.
18:01
Speaker 2: But it feels like maybe you guys were a little
18:03
Speaker 2: a little underrated in the coach's preseason. Paul definitely came
18:06
Speaker 2: out in surprise of pull these first few games. I mean,
18:09
Speaker 2: I obviously the polls are are I mean, it's something
18:12
Speaker 2: that coaches don't pay a ton of attention to, But like,
18:14
Speaker 2: what do you think it is about this team that
18:16
Speaker 2: maybe people weren't prepared for how good you were going
18:18
Speaker 2: to be this year?
18:20
Speaker 4: Yeah, hopefully we can keep that trend going. Grig still
18:23
Speaker 4: still early, but but yeah, I think just with any
18:27
Speaker 4: new staff and group, I think we're we're seeing a
18:30
Speaker 4: little bit more buy in. We're we're not onboarding an
18:33
Speaker 4: entire team with the vision we have for the program,
18:36
Speaker 4: and I think we're seeing that and we're seeing players
18:39
Speaker 4: that want to be at BU. They believe in this
18:41
Speaker 4: as much as we do. And uh, we've we've really
18:44
Speaker 4: focused on a few things in preseason that they've they've
18:47
Speaker 4: ran with so far. And I mean, I personally, I
18:49
Speaker 4: knew we had a talented group. We were very strategic
18:52
Speaker 4: in the transfer portal, with the type of player we
18:54
Speaker 4: brought in on and off the ice, and a great
18:57
Speaker 4: freshman class, So I had a good feeling about it.
19:00
Speaker 4: I think learning as a new coach in general and
19:03
Speaker 4: a new coach of this program, I felt like I
19:06
Speaker 4: was more equipped to know what we needed, which definitely
19:10
Speaker 4: paid off as well, and knowing our players a little
19:11
Speaker 4: bit more as well.
19:13
Speaker 1: We've seen over the last couple of seasons kind of
19:16
Speaker 1: a decent amount of turnover in the head coaching ranks.
19:20
Speaker 1: N see a women's hockey What is it? And being
19:26
Speaker 1: a new coach is different, I think now than it
19:29
Speaker 1: was maybe ten years ago, because you can you could
19:33
Speaker 1: always get transferred, but it's just more known as more
19:36
Speaker 1: of a The ease of it seems a little bit
19:40
Speaker 1: greater to be able to change your roster quickly and
19:44
Speaker 1: to maybe as a newer coach, get the kind of
19:47
Speaker 1: player you want to have on your roster. Can you
19:51
Speaker 1: maybe just give us some insight into what it is
19:55
Speaker 1: as a younger coach, as a coach who is coming
19:57
Speaker 1: into a program like you did last season, to be
20:02
Speaker 1: a new coach at a program in these these days
20:05
Speaker 1: of change around college athletics.
20:09
Speaker 4: For sure, And like you mentioned the first part of
20:11
Speaker 4: your question, I think the growth of our game is
20:13
Speaker 4: showing more turnover, right, We're starting to see I think
20:16
Speaker 4: when you talk about the quote unquote trailblazer, you know,
20:20
Speaker 4: the women that I looked up to playing, wanting to
20:23
Speaker 4: play with, and looked up to when I was a
20:25
Speaker 4: young girl. We're seeing a lot of us now starting
20:28
Speaker 4: to get into leadership positions in the women's game, and
20:30
Speaker 4: I think with the progression of our of our pro league,
20:35
Speaker 4: we're seeing that create more opportunities for women in leadership
20:38
Speaker 4: positions in hockey as well. So I think to the
20:40
Speaker 4: first point of your question, yeah, we're starting to see
20:42
Speaker 4: a little bit more turnover, you know, which is exciting too,
20:45
Speaker 4: but creating a lot of change. But I also think
20:48
Speaker 4: the transfer portal does create a little.
20:49
Speaker 3: Bit of a unique dynamic.
20:51
Speaker 4: I you know, for me personally, in my philosophy, you
20:54
Speaker 4: always want to build from the ground up, right. You
20:56
Speaker 4: want those four year players that you recruit, that you
20:59
Speaker 4: know believe in your program, that you can develop over time.
21:03
Speaker 4: But the transfer portal, especially for a new coach and
21:05
Speaker 4: a new staff, I think it does give you the
21:07
Speaker 4: opportunity to make it feel like yours a little bit quicker,
21:10
Speaker 4: and I think it's always going to be a way
21:11
Speaker 4: that you know, you can strategically supplement. You know, the
21:15
Speaker 4: fifth year transfer is gone now, but the maturity that
21:19
Speaker 4: a fifth year, you know, young woman can bring to
21:22
Speaker 4: your program the leadership is you're talking about the ages
21:25
Speaker 4: of eighteen to twenty one. It's it's a big transformation
21:29
Speaker 4: in your life. And with an a lot of more
21:31
Speaker 4: natural freshmen and when the women's game, I think you
21:34
Speaker 4: really feel that.
21:34
Speaker 3: So there's definitely an opportunity there to supplement.
21:37
Speaker 4: But I think building your vision long term obviously is
21:39
Speaker 4: going to come from that four year player, that natural
21:41
Speaker 4: freshman you're bringing him. What was it about this position,
21:44
Speaker 4: Tara that that was so appealing to you and it
21:46
Speaker 4: had to be a little bittersweet bittersweet right with Brian
21:49
Speaker 4: leaving and why the position was open in the first place,
21:52
Speaker 4: And can you just talk about sort of why sort
21:55
Speaker 4: of this was the confluence of all of that coming
21:57
Speaker 4: together for you and maybe the perfect position that you
21:59
Speaker 4: would I'm looking for. Yeah, for sure, I'll try to
22:03
Speaker 4: keep it short, and I think it's you know, it's
22:05
Speaker 4: the end result of a long term dream that I've
22:08
Speaker 4: always had. And funny, I've wanted to coach for a
22:11
Speaker 4: very long time, even when I was playing. And you know,
22:13
Speaker 4: I think it's just built off of falling in love
22:15
Speaker 4: with be You through my recruiting process and when I
22:18
Speaker 4: was a player. And you know, what better place to
22:20
Speaker 4: coach than at your alma mater, a place that you
22:23
Speaker 4: believe in, that you love, that you fell in love with,
22:26
Speaker 4: and to be able to give back to the program
22:27
Speaker 4: that gave you so much.
22:28
Speaker 3: So you know, to me, it's it's the dream job.
22:32
Speaker 4: And I can't I can tell you I didn't anticipate,
22:36
Speaker 4: you know, achieving this dream of being back here and
22:39
Speaker 4: giving back to be You this early in my career.
22:41
Speaker 4: But I feel so fortunate, and you know, it was
22:43
Speaker 4: I always say, like getting Brian taking a chance on
22:47
Speaker 4: me as an assistant when I first started my career
22:49
Speaker 4: in coaching. I was so so fortunate that he did that,
22:52
Speaker 4: And but it also created a feeling of like, damn,
22:57
Speaker 4: like it's hard to think about leaving, Like I need
22:58
Speaker 4: to get head coaching experience if I ever want to
23:00
Speaker 4: come back here as a head coach. So Stonehill was
23:04
Speaker 4: such an amazing part of my career that I feel
23:07
Speaker 4: grateful for. And I didn't think it was going to
23:09
Speaker 4: be that quick that I was there and back, but
23:11
Speaker 4: like kind of like you mentioned, but just feel so
23:14
Speaker 4: honored to be able to kind of step in after Brian.
23:17
Speaker 4: You obviously built this program, and I have even more
23:19
Speaker 4: of an appreciation for that after being stone Hill and
23:22
Speaker 4: building that program. I've learned so much from him, and yeah,
23:26
Speaker 4: every day I feel honored for the opportunity to give
23:29
Speaker 4: back to everything that he's built and the program that I.
23:31
Speaker 3: Fell in love with.
23:33
Speaker 1: Speaking of building, there's building going on in your venue,
23:38
Speaker 1: and this is one of the things that I wanted
23:39
Speaker 1: to ask about because it seems like a really cool,
23:43
Speaker 1: just kind of under the hood change going on in
23:45
Speaker 1: Walter Brown Rena, can you kind of talk tell us
23:49
Speaker 1: what all that means for you as a program, And
23:51
Speaker 1: now we see that it means you're playing out against
23:53
Speaker 1: Arena for at least a couple of months, but in
23:57
Speaker 1: the long run, what does that do you know? Having
24:01
Speaker 1: kind of updated facilities and those kind of things when
24:04
Speaker 1: you're talking about trying to elevate your program and seeing
24:08
Speaker 1: if you can accelerate what you want to do.
24:10
Speaker 4: Then, for sure, I feel also so grateful that this
24:14
Speaker 4: project has been ten years in the making and the
24:17
Speaker 4: fact that I'm going into year two and I'm getting
24:21
Speaker 4: to reap the benefits of all that hard work of
24:23
Speaker 4: Brian and the our administration that has come before me.
24:27
Speaker 4: I fell in love with be you part of the
24:28
Speaker 4: reason because it's a hockey school and the women have
24:31
Speaker 4: their own rink, and it's been a long time coming
24:34
Speaker 4: that you know, we're going to get a little bit
24:36
Speaker 4: of an upgrade for the young women that come through
24:38
Speaker 4: our program to have spaces that they want to spend
24:41
Speaker 4: time in, whether that's your you know, your athlete lounge,
24:44
Speaker 4: that's the locker room, all those spaces, right and obviously
24:49
Speaker 4: the fan experience of having a jumbo tron and Walter Brown.
24:53
Speaker 4: All of that's going on as we speak, and that's
24:55
Speaker 4: kind of phase two of the renovation. A lot of
24:57
Speaker 4: it is that underbelly of the rink, athletic trainings, hot
25:01
Speaker 4: cold tubs, equipment, room coaches, room, coaches offices. Like it's
25:05
Speaker 4: crazy to think, we like to spend a lot of
25:07
Speaker 4: time with our athletes and have a conference room, spaces
25:10
Speaker 4: for individual video sessions, all of that kind of stuff,
25:13
Speaker 4: collaborating as a staff, so it's.
25:15
Speaker 3: Very much in the works.
25:17
Speaker 4: Kickstarted right after graduation last May and targeted for the
25:21
Speaker 4: end of January to kind of get back into our home.
25:24
Speaker 4: It's been really cool, like the they put the jumbo
25:27
Speaker 4: tron in early this summer, put the ice back in
25:29
Speaker 4: and now all the work is still going around the rink,
25:32
Speaker 4: but we're still practicing there, which works out really well
25:35
Speaker 4: because that's the perk of having your own rink is
25:38
Speaker 4: the men have their ice time and practice schedule and
25:41
Speaker 4: they run it like a pro environment. We have our
25:43
Speaker 4: ice time and practice schedule and we run it like
25:45
Speaker 4: a pro environment and have the extra ice for skills
25:48
Speaker 4: being able to shift timing a video and skate when
25:50
Speaker 4: you need to. So we still get to live that
25:53
Speaker 4: every day. And then, you know, the unique As much
25:55
Speaker 4: as I always say it's there's worse places we could
25:57
Speaker 4: play than at Aganis Arena, it still was a little
26:00
Speaker 4: bit of an adjustment when we first went over there.
26:02
Speaker 4: So we tried to practice there once a week going
26:04
Speaker 4: into the weekend, and it's been really cool. The production
26:08
Speaker 4: the double headers have been a fun, unique experience. So
26:12
Speaker 4: it's honestly it's I really it's been a fun experience
26:15
Speaker 4: so far, and so grateful that it showed the continued
26:19
Speaker 4: support of our administration and our school. We're a hockey
26:21
Speaker 4: school and you're seeing it a little bit through the
26:23
Speaker 4: renovations at Walter Brown.
26:26
Speaker 2: The doubleheaders are something I love. I hope that something
26:29
Speaker 2: they see and maybe you can continue to do even
26:31
Speaker 2: if they're outside of a different building.
26:34
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure, right, And I think we even started
26:36
Speaker 4: staggering it. I know it was unique for some of
26:39
Speaker 4: our season ticket holders early on when we went to
26:41
Speaker 4: the six and seven start, but I think there is
26:44
Speaker 4: something to be said for fans that are.
26:46
Speaker 3: Just BU Hockey fans for sure, right, I think.
26:49
Speaker 4: And then since I've come back as the head coach,
26:52
Speaker 4: that was one of the first things I noticed was
26:54
Speaker 4: just coming back into the BU Hockey community. What an amazing,
26:57
Speaker 4: amazing support system and fan base that love the men's
27:00
Speaker 4: and women's sides.
27:01
Speaker 3: So I agree with you for sure.
27:04
Speaker 2: With I mean, kind of coming back around to talking
27:06
Speaker 2: about Hockey East, it feels like it might be the
27:08
Speaker 2: confer instance, the most wide opening. There's just so much opportunity,
27:13
Speaker 2: you know, particularly with after we saw that sort of
27:16
Speaker 2: stronghold that Northeastern had on it for so long. It's
27:18
Speaker 2: like it's a really cool place to watch and know
27:21
Speaker 2: that sort of literally every single game, every shift, every everything,
27:24
Speaker 2: like it could come down to something quite small. And
27:26
Speaker 2: so what does that opportunity mean to you all? And
27:30
Speaker 2: how are you sort of presenting that to your team
27:33
Speaker 2: in terms of like what they can accomplish this year
27:36
Speaker 2: and like not being maybe intimidated by you know, championships
27:40
Speaker 2: or any of that sort of stuff.
27:42
Speaker 4: Yeah, And it's funny because I think we're going into
27:45
Speaker 4: that part of our season where that messaging is more
27:48
Speaker 4: prevalent now than ever. And I told our players, like
27:51
Speaker 4: I get it. It's a little bit easier to get
27:54
Speaker 4: up for a Minnesota and a Northeastern right nationally rite programs.
27:58
Speaker 4: And now it's time for us to truly learn about
28:00
Speaker 4: ourselves and the identity and what we want for the
28:02
Speaker 4: future of BU women's hockey. And that's the discipline to
28:05
Speaker 4: do it weekend.
28:06
Speaker 3: After weekend after weekend.
28:08
Speaker 4: And that's the consistency, the maturity in our game, the
28:12
Speaker 4: patients and like I said, discipline, and I truly believe
28:15
Speaker 4: that the program and the team that we have and
28:16
Speaker 4: the players like, if we have attention to detail and
28:19
Speaker 4: if we continue to practice the way that we're practicing lately,
28:23
Speaker 4: weekends should feel easy. And that's been the model we've
28:26
Speaker 4: had all pre season long. The compete, I haven't seen it.
28:31
Speaker 4: I have in my long playing career and coaching career
28:33
Speaker 4: thus far, I haven't seen the compete like I have
28:36
Speaker 4: with our team so far. And I think you're seeing
28:38
Speaker 4: that in our games. And if we can find a
28:40
Speaker 4: way to make that consistent and a part of our identity,
28:43
Speaker 4: it's I like to think we're gonna have the consistency
28:46
Speaker 4: that we didn't have last year going continuing through this season.
28:49
Speaker 1: Nice you mentioned that bu is a hockey school, and
28:53
Speaker 1: Boston is a hockey city, and Massachusetts is a hockey state,
28:56
Speaker 1: and I just wonder what that means. And Boston is
28:58
Speaker 1: a women's hockey city. Let's be real. I mean they
29:01
Speaker 1: have as a PWHL team that's you know, right right
29:03
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood there. How does that all connect into
29:09
Speaker 1: you know, elevating you know, not only your program, but
29:13
Speaker 1: the other programs in the area there too. To know
29:18
Speaker 1: that there's a you know, there's more that can be
29:20
Speaker 1: had in terms of being a Division one women's hockey program.
29:26
Speaker 4: Yeah, for sure. And it's something that's such a huge straw.
29:29
Speaker 4: And with us being, you know, a school in Boston
29:33
Speaker 4: and us are our culture of bu as a school
29:36
Speaker 4: in general, very much tied to the city and it
29:39
Speaker 4: being a sports city, a hockey city, a women's hockey city, everything,
29:43
Speaker 4: like you said, you feel it, and it's a really
29:45
Speaker 4: cool dynamic and having so many schools so close by,
29:48
Speaker 4: and you know, it's a small world when you get
29:51
Speaker 4: into your your sport and your gender of your sport
29:54
Speaker 4: and the girls all knowing each other, have grown up
29:56
Speaker 4: playing against each other, and I think that it creates
29:59
Speaker 4: a really cool dynamic. And you obviously see that come
30:02
Speaker 4: to life with the bean pot, right and the growth
30:04
Speaker 4: and recently going to ted Garden. But I also love
30:07
Speaker 4: the growth of our sport in general with their professional league.
30:11
Speaker 4: And it makes my job so fun too, because now
30:14
Speaker 4: you get to have the conversation every day of how
30:16
Speaker 4: do I get you there?
30:17
Speaker 3: You want to play pro?
30:18
Speaker 4: Yeah, let's talk about it, right, Like your senior year
30:21
Speaker 4: isn't the end of your you know, your your hockey career,
30:24
Speaker 4: and getting to have a little bit of that incentive
30:27
Speaker 4: of getting them to that pro level and getting them
30:29
Speaker 4: to play if they want to stay in Boston, right
30:31
Speaker 4: they fall in love with this city over four years
30:34
Speaker 4: and getting to have that conversation too, So it's changing
30:37
Speaker 4: the game. You know, I've coached at the UA team
30:39
Speaker 4: level for a very long time now with the Hockey
30:41
Speaker 4: Canada and I've always felt like women and young girls
30:45
Speaker 4: have that pressure to have success at such a young age,
30:48
Speaker 4: and then they don't play anymore, Like if they're not
30:51
Speaker 4: making their national teams by their junior senior year, you
30:54
Speaker 4: know they're planning for life outside of hockey. And and
30:57
Speaker 4: now it's you know, you don't have to make your
30:59
Speaker 4: UA tea team to be an Olympian, you don't have
31:01
Speaker 4: to make your UA team team to have a long
31:03
Speaker 4: pro career. And college has now become a cool focus
31:06
Speaker 4: where you can get better and grow and you know,
31:09
Speaker 4: you can achieve your dreams into your mid twenties late twenties.
31:11
Speaker 3: So it's an exciting time.
31:13
Speaker 4: And I think Boston, like you said, when you look
31:15
Speaker 4: at it, it's very much a hotbed for that growth,
31:17
Speaker 4: which is awesome.
31:19
Speaker 2: With all of that positive there is, like there just
31:21
Speaker 2: sadly is not enough people coming to all of the
31:24
Speaker 2: women's hockey opportunities in Boston, and so I guess maybe
31:28
Speaker 2: just like sort of what are your thoughts. I mean,
31:29
Speaker 2: I know that there's so many different things that are
31:31
Speaker 2: pulling people's attention, but also I mean even through some
31:35
Speaker 2: of you know, the best years from you know, when
31:39
Speaker 2: MPP was on was at BU or one, you know,
31:43
Speaker 2: Kendall was at Northeastern, and it's like different, you know,
31:46
Speaker 2: different players, a top tier players at different schools. Even then,
31:49
Speaker 2: like we were seeing you know, sort of small attendance numbers,
31:51
Speaker 2: and so I guess you do you have any thoughts
31:53
Speaker 2: about like what can be done to to kind of
31:55
Speaker 2: grow that profile even more for the college programs and
31:59
Speaker 2: just you know what, all of those positive things don't
32:03
Speaker 2: necessarily translate into people coming to the college meeams in Boston,
32:06
Speaker 2: which I think is a shame.
32:08
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great question.
32:09
Speaker 4: And is it's the unique you know, there's two sides
32:12
Speaker 4: to every coin, right, It's amazing being in Boston, but
32:15
Speaker 4: it does pull your attention in a lot of different areas.
32:18
Speaker 4: There's so much that you can do, and it's a
32:20
Speaker 4: great sports city. There's other great sports going on there's
32:23
Speaker 4: other colleges. And I think too, what was really cool
32:26
Speaker 4: and you mentioned MPP with Poulen bu it was cool
32:31
Speaker 4: to see like from my freshman year it was three
32:33
Speaker 4: years into the history of the varsity program to where
32:36
Speaker 4: we started winning and you saw an increase in attendance
32:39
Speaker 4: there for a little bit. And by no means is
32:41
Speaker 4: that the numbers you ever want for our sport in general.
32:45
Speaker 3: But I do think that the opportunity is there.
32:48
Speaker 4: And what I really also think is, like with just
32:51
Speaker 4: I heard someone in marketing say this with professional women's
32:55
Speaker 4: hockey before, and you know, I cannot see it now,
32:57
Speaker 4: but there's a fan base there and engaging the fan
33:01
Speaker 4: base that exists. And this is my own personal philosophy too.
33:04
Speaker 4: I think through social media, through you know, really a
33:10
Speaker 4: strategic marketing plan, like you're gonna engage the fans you
33:13
Speaker 4: do have, and then I think beyond that, what I
33:16
Speaker 4: don't think you've seen in the women's game as much
33:19
Speaker 4: is fan experience investment, whether that's getting a good meal,
33:23
Speaker 4: drinking a beer, the jumbotrons. I think, like, why would
33:27
Speaker 4: you ever leave your couch when you can stream it
33:30
Speaker 4: and watch it and go to a game and you
33:32
Speaker 4: can't eat food or have a drink, and I think
33:34
Speaker 4: that we're starting to see a little and we're feeling
33:36
Speaker 4: it again.
33:36
Speaker 3: It's a little bit.
33:37
Speaker 4: I know, it's never gonna feel full the same way
33:40
Speaker 4: Walter Brown will feel full and loud the same way
33:42
Speaker 4: Walter Brown feels loud. But I think it's just a
33:46
Speaker 4: tradition in sport. People go to sporting events to feel
33:48
Speaker 4: like they're part of something bigger than themselves. And you know,
33:51
Speaker 4: you saw it a TD garden. When you truly invest
33:53
Speaker 4: in the environment and treat it like a professional experience,
33:58
Speaker 4: people will show up. So I think we're learning that,
34:01
Speaker 4: and I think we're learning that across women's sports in general,
34:04
Speaker 4: whether that college volleyball or whether that's you know, women's basketball.
34:08
Speaker 4: I think we're starting to see that if you treat
34:11
Speaker 4: it with integrity and professionalism, people treat it that way too.
34:15
Speaker 2: That's such an important point.
34:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
34:18
Speaker 1: Well, Tarya Watchorn, thank you very much for joining us tonight.
34:23
Speaker 1: It's been great hearing about everything that's going on with
34:25
Speaker 1: your program, and best of luck to you and the
34:28
Speaker 1: Terriers going forward the season.
34:30
Speaker 3: Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure.
34:33
Speaker 2: We're excited to watch.
34:41
Speaker 4: Hi.
34:41
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. Todd Moluski here with Nicole Hasey.
34:45
Speaker 1: That's look ahead to what's coming up on this weekend
34:50
Speaker 1: in women's college hockey. First of off, welcome to the
34:54
Speaker 1: IVS to the twenty twenty four.
34:57
Speaker 2: Today, we officially have a full season.
35:00
Speaker 1: We are just about to have everyone involved in the
35:06
Speaker 1: country having played a game at some point here soon,
35:08
Speaker 1: so that's good to see. We'll be getting some ACAC
35:12
Speaker 1: games soon, not yet, but soon. But there's a you know,
35:19
Speaker 1: one of the things we did want to mention too,
35:22
Speaker 1: we were just talking about off air, looking at the
35:26
Speaker 1: record the non conference records around the country has a
35:29
Speaker 1: little bit of a surprise, specifically Atlantic Hockey America. The
35:33
Speaker 1: former CHA is sitting with a out of conference record
35:39
Speaker 1: of fourteen and nineteen, which doesn't sound you know, it
35:41
Speaker 1: is not great. I mean, w c HA is nineteen
35:44
Speaker 1: and three. We know that that's a league that's always
35:47
Speaker 1: gonna be up there. But Atlantic Hockey holding its own
35:51
Speaker 1: in a lot of these games, and that's probably worth
35:57
Speaker 1: you know, paying attention to as this goes on, because
36:00
Speaker 1: that does mean something when it comes to the like
36:02
Speaker 1: we were talking about before, when it comes to the
36:04
Speaker 1: pair wise at the end of the year, how how
36:06
Speaker 1: you do relative to other conferences plays a little bit
36:11
Speaker 1: of a role.
36:12
Speaker 2: Right, There's that sort of repeating math of your opponent's opponents, right,
36:15
Speaker 2: and so on math and.
36:18
Speaker 1: That I will never be able to calculate myself, right,
36:20
Speaker 1: you know.
36:20
Speaker 2: That's the end of that kind nothing to do. But
36:23
Speaker 2: the point being that when you are beating teams that
36:26
Speaker 2: are then you know, doing well within their conference, like that,
36:29
Speaker 2: all that repeating math makes a difference, right, So your
36:32
Speaker 2: opponent's opponents and how they do there, and so yeah,
36:35
Speaker 2: I like, listen, I don't no offense to the AHA,
36:38
Speaker 2: but I think like just looking at you know, how
36:40
Speaker 2: their teams have fared in the NC tournament in recent
36:43
Speaker 2: years and things like that, like I do you know,
36:45
Speaker 2: there is sort of a strata of where the different
36:47
Speaker 2: conferences tend to fall. And so just the fact that
36:49
Speaker 2: we you know, you're talking about rit Mercy, Hurtscott, you know,
36:52
Speaker 2: some wins over opponents, you know, ECC hockey sut things
36:59
Speaker 2: like that, and so I just I was the one
37:01
Speaker 2: I think that I just noted. I was I didn't
37:02
Speaker 2: even know what the numbers were. I just was like Hey, yuh,
37:05
Speaker 2: some AHA teams have gotten some big wins here to
37:08
Speaker 2: start this season. So yeah, I you know, like kudos
37:11
Speaker 2: to them definitely. Of notes, just like things are you know,
37:15
Speaker 2: things I think are changing and are growing, and I
37:17
Speaker 2: you know, I have to say, like Penn State does
37:20
Speaker 2: seem to be sort of the top tier of that conference,
37:22
Speaker 2: but I also do think that conference is a little
37:24
Speaker 2: more wide open and not as sort of clearly stratified
37:28
Speaker 2: in the way that maybe it has been for the
37:30
Speaker 2: last few seasons or like you would kind of just
37:32
Speaker 2: assume based on the way things have gone recent years.
37:35
Speaker 2: And you know, just too, I also just want to
37:37
Speaker 2: appease the people that I know when you said, oh,
37:39
Speaker 2: the WC is gonna do that, like wha a non
37:42
Speaker 2: conference schedule that was not exactly super difficult this year.
37:46
Speaker 2: Uh umd you know aside, So there's that too. But yeah,
37:51
Speaker 2: so kudos to the AHA teams for for scheduling those games,
37:54
Speaker 2: Kudos to them for them going out and actually winning
37:57
Speaker 2: them and not just being you know, the teams that
37:59
Speaker 2: I feel it might bill harder for them to schedule
38:01
Speaker 2: some of these series in the next couple of years
38:04
Speaker 2: because Penn State Marcy Harris, Sorrity all went out, Robert
38:07
Speaker 2: Morris too, all went out and won some of those games. So,
38:10
Speaker 2: you know, good for the parody of women's hockey and
38:13
Speaker 2: good for the conference and not just the math of it,
38:17
Speaker 2: but the growth and what you learn from winning games
38:20
Speaker 2: that maybe you weren't you know, on paper, expected to
38:23
Speaker 2: win and what all of that stuff. It's it's all
38:25
Speaker 2: these little things that compound for sort of programs that
38:28
Speaker 2: aren't drawing necessarily the same way that some of the
38:30
Speaker 2: bigger ones are. When you can show you know, recruits
38:33
Speaker 2: these wins, When you can show you know, improved conference
38:36
Speaker 2: non conference records, when you then are you know, maybe
38:39
Speaker 2: getting a better pair wise ranking, and all of that
38:42
Speaker 2: sort of stuff, all of those are the things that
38:44
Speaker 2: show a recruit why this is a place you want
38:46
Speaker 2: to come help grow. So everything like that individually might's
38:50
Speaker 2: not seem that exciting to talk about or even to note,
38:53
Speaker 2: but it's those little things that build up that helped
38:56
Speaker 2: shape and change sort of the prospects for a program
39:00
Speaker 2: of a smaller size.
39:02
Speaker 1: Yeah, those non conference records, if you're interested, are available
39:05
Speaker 1: on the us ECHO website under the menu D one women,
39:09
Speaker 1: Drop it down and click on interconference and you can
39:12
Speaker 1: go back and look at year to year how those
39:15
Speaker 1: have changed and like, for instance, Cha last year when
39:18
Speaker 1: it was CHA, they're winning percentage out of conference. So
39:21
Speaker 1: it's three fifty eight right now the season is four
39:23
Speaker 1: twenty four, So that's you know, a little you know,
39:26
Speaker 1: it's not a huge jump, but it's a jump, and
39:28
Speaker 1: I think that's, you know, something we'll maybe reassessed towards
39:32
Speaker 1: the end of the season, but that is, you know,
39:36
Speaker 1: a sign of progress and something something to keep an
39:40
Speaker 1: eye and looking forward. Yeah, okay, let's let's look at
39:43
Speaker 1: what's coming this weekend. Big one in Minneapolis, Border Battle,
39:48
Speaker 1: Wisconsin going at Minnesota, number one at number three, a
39:52
Speaker 1: Friday Saturday series and Saturday's game is on BTN, Big
39:59
Speaker 1: ten network, coming I believe, coming out of the football game,
40:03
Speaker 1: the Badgers football game. So uh, you know, hopefully that
40:07
Speaker 1: that leads some some fans that you know, had BTN
40:11
Speaker 1: on for football just stick around and watch some really
40:14
Speaker 1: good women's hockey. That's that's one of the better series
40:17
Speaker 1: of the season. So they have that out there as
40:19
Speaker 1: a We've seen this in volleyball too, where you know
40:21
Speaker 1: that you've get you have a football broadcast that leads
40:25
Speaker 1: into a volleyball broadcast and it leads to some really
40:28
Speaker 1: big numbers. I hope you get something along those lines
40:30
Speaker 1: for this series because these are these are some of
40:32
Speaker 1: the games that are that really make uh you know
40:37
Speaker 1: waves in women's hockey.
40:40
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it's like I think all teams deserve to
40:43
Speaker 2: be televised, but also I think it's just really important
40:46
Speaker 2: that it is these two teams and that it's out
40:48
Speaker 2: of Minneapolis, which just has a really great broadcast experience.
40:52
Speaker 2: So it's a little like Terra said, in terms of
40:55
Speaker 2: making it, you know, a reason that people want. You know,
40:57
Speaker 2: she was talking about getting in the space, into the arena,
41:00
Speaker 2: but the same concept applies, like if you're if you
41:03
Speaker 2: only ever get to watch a stream that has some
41:05
Speaker 2: student reporters and some students running the cameras and not
41:08
Speaker 2: great lighting, Like it's it's hard to get into women's hockey.
41:11
Speaker 2: So you know, Minnesota has their own play by play people.
41:14
Speaker 2: They you know, they have this great setup already, they
41:17
Speaker 2: have their own arena. Like the broadcast production there just
41:21
Speaker 2: I think lends itself to to to making people stick
41:24
Speaker 2: around and pay attention. And so as you said, I
41:26
Speaker 2: think uh, hopefully they get them bump and I just
41:29
Speaker 2: think this is a really good choice in that location
41:32
Speaker 2: to really draw people in. So excited to see that.
41:37
Speaker 1: Anything else, Jubin, hownt you for this weekend's schedule, we
41:40
Speaker 1: still have a lot of non conference games going on.
41:44
Speaker 1: We see there's some WCG games, some hockey, some new
41:47
Speaker 1: ha uh, but we're really still talking in the meat
41:50
Speaker 1: of the non conference season here, and that the like
41:53
Speaker 1: we're talking about before, that can shift some of those
41:56
Speaker 1: uh you know, dynamics of of what that means towards
41:59
Speaker 1: the end of the season of pair wise numbers, so
42:02
Speaker 1: a lot of those are pretty important for the higher
42:05
Speaker 1: ranked teams to take care of business.
42:07
Speaker 2: I'm excited to see Cornell at the ice and started
42:09
Speaker 2: building on what we were just talking about with the AHA.
42:11
Speaker 2: They're traveling to Mercyhursts, So there's always interesting because the
42:14
Speaker 2: IVY has just got on the ice right, so they're
42:16
Speaker 2: like at a full month disadvantage in terms of experience
42:20
Speaker 2: and cohesion and all of those things that that the
42:23
Speaker 2: teams that started, you know, back in September have, So
42:26
Speaker 2: Cardell not with an easy start here, you know, Like
42:29
Speaker 2: I'm someone that was really high on than coming to
42:32
Speaker 2: the season. I think that they you know, there's a
42:33
Speaker 2: lot of potential. They're currently ranked number six despite not
42:36
Speaker 2: having played a game for a reason, right, Like, there's
42:39
Speaker 2: a lot of expectations there, and so am just excited
42:42
Speaker 2: to see them play, but also to have them have
42:46
Speaker 2: this sort of tough opponent right to start out, that's
42:49
Speaker 2: a really, I think, really interesting matchup to watch. And
42:53
Speaker 2: then in conference, you know, we just talked about what
42:54
Speaker 2: Providence did with their upset this week in Connecticut heads
42:58
Speaker 2: to Providence and so you're talking about, you know, the
43:01
Speaker 2: number eighteen in the country and the sort of early
43:06
Speaker 2: presumptive team that we all thought would kind of take
43:09
Speaker 2: Hockey East this year. So Connecticut at Providence at two
43:13
Speaker 2: o'clock Eastern on it's that Saturday. I don't know what
43:19
Speaker 2: the days are on Friday, so that's a day that's
43:21
Speaker 2: a day game on Friday. Yes, that'll be exciting because
43:23
Speaker 2: that'll be an ESPN plus. So yeah, just that I
43:27
Speaker 2: think will be one of the more interesting sort of
43:29
Speaker 2: conference matchups and really following on what we were just
43:32
Speaker 2: talking about, like with what Hockey East can do and
43:36
Speaker 2: the opportunities there. So both teams there really like kind
43:39
Speaker 2: of need that win, right, like you just can't. One
43:42
Speaker 2: of the things that has been frustrating to me over
43:44
Speaker 2: the few seasons past few seasons watching Hockey East is
43:46
Speaker 2: that it has felt wide open, and it has felt
43:49
Speaker 2: like nobody has taken the opportunity and grabbed it, and
43:52
Speaker 2: so I kind of feel like I'm always just waiting
43:54
Speaker 2: for someone to like really be like, yep, the door
43:57
Speaker 2: is wide open, and I'm gonna be the one that
43:59
Speaker 2: walked through it. So talking Tatar really made me think,
44:02
Speaker 2: like this is a team that might be the one
44:04
Speaker 2: to do it. Now, Province with that win might be
44:06
Speaker 2: the team to do it. Maybe Yukon is like hey,
44:09
Speaker 2: we really like really at the top, but you have
44:11
Speaker 2: to be a team that that wins those games. Like
44:14
Speaker 2: Yukon's a ranked team, they're the defending national champion or
44:18
Speaker 2: conference champions. They need like for them this they should
44:21
Speaker 2: be winning this game. And so what if Providence wants
44:24
Speaker 2: to play upset then spoiler, then they've got an opportunity.
44:27
Speaker 2: The point is that everybody needs to win all of
44:29
Speaker 2: the games, and so that to me creates the tension
44:32
Speaker 2: and and also just makes me when when it doesn't
44:34
Speaker 2: happen makes me want to shake shake some people. So
44:36
Speaker 2: we'll see. I just I want I think that conference,
44:40
Speaker 2: you know, just has so many opportunities and and sometimes
44:44
Speaker 2: you kind of see teams going to you're like, oh,
44:46
Speaker 2: you lost a couple of games, like maybe they like
44:48
Speaker 2: maybe they got fired up, maybe they you know, and
44:50
Speaker 2: then they go and sort of drop another one and
44:52
Speaker 2: you're like, okay, well never mind, that wasn't the fire
44:54
Speaker 2: I was looking for from you. So yeah, I think
44:57
Speaker 2: that that series is the one where it'd be interesting
44:59
Speaker 2: to see how those two teams react. Yeah, and you know,
45:02
Speaker 2: also Providence like played two games last weekend, played again
45:05
Speaker 2: on Tuesday, and plays again Friday afternoon. That's a lot
45:07
Speaker 2: for them.
45:08
Speaker 1: That is a lot. Yeah. Another TV game I wanted
45:10
Speaker 1: to mention Saturday on nesson holy Cross at Northeastern. After
45:14
Speaker 1: the team's play at holy Cross on Friday five o'clock Eastern.
45:18
Speaker 1: On that Saturday face off, Northeastern looking to rebound after
45:23
Speaker 1: getting shut out like as you mentioned against BU. So
45:27
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how they try to rebound
45:32
Speaker 1: this coming weekend.
45:34
Speaker 2: Right, And we didn't mention, but holy Cross is holy
45:36
Speaker 2: Cross played BC last weekend. I think like a Thursday Saturday.
45:39
Speaker 2: But that is another one where they lost one of
45:42
Speaker 2: the series, one of the games five to one, but
45:44
Speaker 2: one the other one for one. So you know, have
45:46
Speaker 2: the capability of going out there and really putting some
45:49
Speaker 2: bucks in the net. And so how they respond and
45:51
Speaker 2: what they learned from that is also going to be important.
45:55
Speaker 1: Well, that's going to wrap it up for us here
45:57
Speaker 1: at the podcast. We hope you enjoyed the week's women's hockey.
46:01
Speaker 1: We will be back next week to talk all about it,
46:04
Speaker 1: so join us. Then make sure you check everything out
46:06
Speaker 1: on us j O dot com, the scores, nicoles, wrap ups,
46:10
Speaker 1: and looks ahead. So for Nicole Hasey on Todd Lusky,
46:14
Speaker 1: talk to you later on the podcast.